


Transcendence

by malinaldarose (coralysendria)



Category: Earth: Final Conflict
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Community: trope_bingo, Episode Tag, Episode: s04e22 Point of No Return, Gen, Immortality, Trope Bingo Amnesty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 16:25:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18479956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coralysendria/pseuds/malinaldarose
Summary: "Am I dead?" Liam asked softly.





	Transcendence

**Author's Note:**

> This fills the Immortality/Reincarnation square on one or another of my Trope Bingo cards for Round Twelve Amnesty.

Liam didn't know if Renee could still hear him or not -- didn't know if anyone would ever hear him -- but as the Atavan energy washed over his body, he called out in an attempt to explain, "The Atavan life force -- it needs both Taelon and Jaridian energies to regenerate. I don't know what they'll become, but it's in the hands of destiny now."

There was one thing more needed, one thing he hadn't wanted Renee or Street or Augur to know, though Street -- clever, beautiful Street -- had figured it out. It needed him. That was why his face appeared in Ma'el's manuscript. That was why the portal would not activate to take him back to the upper chamber. It needed the direction of a willing human being, and the touch of the Kimera who eons ago had caused the change in the Atavus that divided them into Taelons and Jaridians. Kimera caused it. Kimera must heal it. And he was the only Kimera left. Destiny, indeed. His whole life, from Ha'gel's choice of his human parents to the burning out of his Kimera DNA -- leaving him physically wholly human, but still with a Kimera soul -- had been guided by destiny, to bring him to this chamber...and this ending.

For ending it was. He _knew_ it. And Liam found that he had the courage -- and, yes, the love -- to accept it. There was a kind of ecstasy in finally knowing his purpose and his place in the universe. And so he entered the energy pool willingly, knowing that it would be his last human action. His arms raised of their own accord. His fingers splayed. The energy danced outward from the confines of the pool, lapping first at the dark bioreceptacles where the Taelons and Jaridians awaited their own destinies. The receptacles flared with power, kindling the change within. The energy continued to flow, onward, ever outward, until it enveloped the entire chamber, feeding back on itself, building, brightening, until Liam's sight went out in a wash of blinding brilliance....

When he could see again, he found that he was no longer in the regeneration chamber. Instead, he stood in the psychokinetic plane where he had first met his Kimera father Ha'gel. It seemed brighter than his previous visits, but it wasn't until he caught sight of himself that he realized why. His body was limned in light. Not the fierce brightness of the Atavan pool, but a soft radiance that reminded him of candlelight -- the homey, golden glow of his mother's meditation candles. He was fiercely glad to know that her memories remained with him.

For long moments, Liam found himself content to stay where he was, apparently standing on nothing, watching the mists and the lights of the plane eddy gently around him. The plane felt different this time. Where before, it had felt as though he and Ha'gel were the only beings in the entire universe, now it felt freighted with presences. Presences that were aware of him and looked on him with a warm and welcoming regard.

The spirits of the Kimera, he realized.

"Am I dead?" Liam asked softly. He was unsurprised when Ha'gel materialized out of the mists. 

"Your body is dead," Ha'gel affirmed. "Even had the regeneration energy not consumed your cells, the force of the volcano's eruption would have killed you. But energy, as you know, can never be destroyed. Thus, your internal energy -- your mind and spirit -- survives. You are Kimera now, in truth, my son. You have transcended the mortal plane. You are now free to embark on the journey that was offered to you once before."

Beside Liam, the shimmering vortex that he had seen on his first visit to this plane -- when he had been trying to rescue Maiya and Augur, and they had instead rescued him -- appeared. He had stood in that portal before; the doorway, his father told him, to Shahariath. To the universe and infinite knowledge. And, oh, he wanted to step through. But....

"What about my friends?"

Ha'gel smiled. "You demonstrate a huge generosity of spirit, Liam, to think of them before yourself. But your friends have their own destinies and must make their own journeys. For now, you must part. When it is time, you will meet again."

Liam felt the truth of Ha'gel's words. His own journey had been difficult -- oh, so difficult -- and while he might yet have some part to play in the unfolding of the universe, for now, it was time for him to rest. To go with Ha'gel. He had learned -- in pain and bitterness and beauty and joy -- how to be human. Now, at long last, it was time to learn how to be Kimera.

He grinned boyishly, and stepped into the vortex.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This is unbeta'd and doesn't _quite_ follow the ending of the episode as aired.  
> 2\. I have only in the last few months become hooked on this show and I have some _feelings_ about it. (Nothing like being _gutted_ by a 20-year old show that everyone else has moved on from.)  
> 3\. Usual disclaimers: Fan work, I don't own the characters, no profit had hereby, etc.


End file.
